Florent Schmitt via Martinon

[mbhaub]

There's a new Chandos release of Schmitt's music. I bought it for three reasons: Salome (love this music), it's and SACD, and the Tortelier has always been an exciting conductor. I won't be discarding my Janowski any time soon, but if you like Schmitt this disk is certainly worth you attention.

[reineckeforever]

I downloaded Schmitt's Quintet coupled with Hasards from iTunes store, good execution, pianist Christian Ivaldi.
I have also an excellent version of the Magnard violin sonata coupled with Franck Sonata (Dumay-Collard).
Andrea

[Latvian]

The Hyperion recording of Psalm 47 (http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/al.asp?al=CDA67599) is the one that I find most satisfying - and the only one in which the sopranos don't sound as though they've gone way beyond their sell-by date. What a glorious piece this is - wave after wave of excitement - frappez des mains indeed!

Agreed! While the Martinon disc is still a sentimental favorite (I wore out my LP copy when it was initially released on Angel in the early 1970s), the Fischer is magnificent in every way.

[reineckeforever]

His Symphony No 2,recorded on the Marco Polo,is a late work & be warned,it is in a more astringent style. Personally,I don't like it,but someone else might!

I quite like the Second Symphony - and I think you're being perhaps a little harsh about the recording 

There is a whole swathe of French composers of this time who are not recognised properly, having been eclipsed by Debussy and Ravel:

Louis Aubert
André Caplet
Paul le Flem
Albéric Magnard
Albert Roussel (to an extent)
Charles Tournemire
Max d'Ollone

do you know Leòn Reinach?
He was a jewish french composer, died in Auschwitz in 1944. He left a sonata for violin and piano (Senart 1925)
Andrea

[Phillip Nones]

A friend of mine just told me about this discussion topic, so I'm coming to the party a tad late.  I have some very good news to report in the way of new recordings of Florent Schmitt that are newly issued, or are in the works for the coming year. 

Just last week, Forgotten Records, a French-based print-on-demand CD label, issued Schmitt's complete ballet "Oriane et le Prince d'Amour" (1933) --  1956 broadcast performance by the ORTF Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Pierre Dervaux.  This piece has never been commercially recorded (the suite has -- just once, and is long out-of-print), but the complete ballet is more than twice the music (nearly an hour).  I've heard from a friend in Europe that the recording quality is very good.  The "filler" item on this disk is a 1960 concert performance of the Symphony #2, Schmitt's penultimate work (1957), with Jean Martinon and the ORTF Orchestra.  Again, I've heard that the performance is mighty fine.  I have ordered my copy of the CD but it hasn't arrived in the mail yet.

I notice that several people have praised the Timpani recording of Schmitt's "Antoine et Cleopatre" Suites.  In February, the same label and performers released the premiere recordings of Schmitt's ballet "Le Petit elfe ferme-l'oeil" (1923), a 45-minute work that's the most glitteringly brilliant ballet music you could ever hope to hear.  The filler item is another super piece called "Introit, recit et conge" (1949), played with tremendous vigor and passion by French cellist Henri Demarquette.  (Man, I wish that man would come to the U.S. to perform; we're the only continent besides Antarctica that hasn't seen him in concert yet.)

Other interesting news is that JoAnn Falletta and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra will be performing and recording the "Antoine et Cleopatre" suites, along with "Le Palais hante" (1904) in early 2015.  You can read up on the program dates and ticket information on the BPO website (www.bpo.org), for those who may wish to see an actual live performance of Schmitt's music (pretty rare here in the U.S.).  I know I'll be there.

Speaking personally, Florent Schmitt's music has been a particular passion of mine for decades, and in 2012 I began a blog devoted to the composer and his music.  So far, I've published around 60 articles on various pieces of music, performers (including some interviews), links to music clips and so forth.  Many of the works cited above have been profiled in individual posts.  For those interested in learning more about this fascinating composer, including some of his lesser-known compositions, I invite you to check out the blog at http://florentschmitt.com.  You can use the search button on the landing page to search for any specific work, performer, and so on.  I hope you'll find it an interesting and helpful resource.

[adriano]

this forum could be joined to an early one about Florent Schmitt, in which many thinks said already occur :-)

[chill319]

If you have a good stereo and don't already have a favorite performance (or even if you do), you might want to check out the Sao Paolo SO under Tortelier. They do a bang-up job with Salomé , Psalm 47, and The Haunted Palace on Chandos.